Protecting Our Communities

Tag Archives: ellistown

Now that the clocks have gone back and the nights are drawing in, it would be an ideal time to remind everybody to take a few simple steps to prevent you from becoming a victim of crime.

make sure your home looks occupied by using automatic timer switches to turn on a light when it goes dark, even if you are just out for a couple of hours

keep doors and windows locked at all times – even if you pop outside to the garden or go upstairs

always lock doors behind you and remove the key from the lock

keep valuables, bags, cash and keys out of sight and keep them in a safe place

don’t leave packaging from expensive items outside your house – take it to be recycled or put them in the bin

install a visible alarm system and security lighting to act as a deterrent

prevent easy access to the back and sides of your home with locked gates or fencing

if you’re going away, don’t advertise it on social media

It’s that time again, Christmas is coming!
On Tuesday 8 November together with North West Leicestershire District Council we held our third licensee workshop.

This is an opportunity for the police, North West Leicestershire District Council and local licensees to meet and discuss our plans for the festive period and help achieve our aim of ensuring that everybody can go out and have a great night and be safe.

The workshop marks the start of our planned activities throughout November and December. We are fortunate to have a close working relationship not only with North West Leicestershire District Council, but also the pubwatch schemes in Ashby and Coalville.

Among the topics covered during the workshop were, child sexual exploitation, drugs awareness and drug seizure.

We also took the opportunity to show ‘Kayleigh’s love story’, which was made by Leicestershire Police and highlights the dangers or online grooming. The story of Kayleigh Haywood is well known to many local people and it is hard to believe that we are approaching twelve months since she was murdered.
The film has been shown to over 10,000 children in Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland and CEASE (Campaign for the Eradication of Abuse and Sexual Exploitation) has now received over 10,000 pledges. Kayleigh was a local girl and we will continue to do all we can to ensure that the children and young people of North West Leicester are safe. The film will be available publicly in January 2017.

On Saturday 3rd December 2016 at the Coalville & Ashby Light Switch-on, we will be launching our Christmas Celebrate Safely Campaign. We have support from Turning Point Drugs & Alcohol rehabilitation project, North West Leicestershire District Council, Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service, the Road Safety Partnership and our Street Pastors.

Our key messages are:

Personal Safety

Look after yourself

Enjoy alcohol sensibly and know your limits,

Drugs are illegal – don’t put licensees in a position where they have to refuse you entry.
Plan ahead

After a night out, how are you getting home?

Who are you going home with?

Book a cab at the start of the night

Property

Vehicles

Don’t leave valuables on display

Homes

If you are using candles ensure you put them out or use an electric candle

Invest in a light timer.

During the festive period we will be visiting licensed premises and we will be on the streets to educate local people, giving them the opportunity to take a non-evidential breath test which will indicate the amount of alcohol they have drunk. This will be accompanied with advice about calorie intake, safe limits, the ability to drive and to ask them to consider safe ways to get home having consumed alcohol.

To move or not to move?
Some time ago we announced our intention to move from the current police station on London Road. The intention was that we would build an extension to the Fire Station in Coalville and move into there.

I am delighted to say that construction of the new building at the Fire Station will start in the New Year. I do not have any dates for likely completion, I will keep you updated with progress.

North West Leicestershire volunteer cadets
At a recent ceremony held at Leicestershire Police headquarters, our volunteer police cadet team won the Saville Shield. This is an award for teams who volunteer for Leicestershire Police and this group of young people are an important part of the team at North West Leicestershire and are a credit to themselves.

Prince’s Trust attachment
PCSO Jason Harriman from the Ashby neighbourhood team recently returned from a twelve week attachment to the Prince’s Trust. This gave Jason an opportunity to share his skills as a neighbourhood PCSO and learn more about engagement with young people. Jason has a highly successful attachment and we have seen the benefit of this since his return.

Leavers and JoinersWe have had a number of changes to our staff.
Sergeant Audrey King who was the team leader for the Ashby and Forest Neighbourhood teams, has moved to Braunstone as a team leader on the Patrol and Resolution team. I would like to thank Audrey for her hard work and enthusiasm particularly her work on licensing.

Audrey’s replacement is Sergeant Colin Gardner who will be well known to many of you having worked at Coalville previously as a neighbourhood PC and Sgt.

PCSO Suzie Hunt from the Bardon Hill neighbourhood team has recently moved to Hinckley and Blaby Neighbourhood Policing Area where she will be part of the team policing Bosworth.

PCSO Jennie May from the Forest neighbourhood team has left Leicestershire police and is moving to Cheshire where she will become a police officer. Both Jennie and Suzie have been tremendous assets to the team here at North West Leicester police, and everybody here wishes them every success for the future.

As replacements for Jennie and Suzie I am delighted to welcome PCSOs Bekki Hales and Elena Chambers. If you see them out and about please take the time to stop them and say hello. I am sure they will be great assets to the team.

That is all for the time being, I am now in my fourth year as the police commander for North West Leicestershire and I continue to be proud of the work your police team do on your behalf to keep you safe.
If you see any members of my team whilst they are out and about, take the time to stop and say hello, I am sure they will appreciate it.

Wishing you all an early Happy Christmas and safe and prosperous New Year.

Helena BhaktaCommander – North West Leicestershire Neighbourhood Policing Area

Welcome to my latest update, it has been a busy few months since my update in April.

Kayleigh HaywoodAt the beginning of July, two local men were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment following the grooming, false imprisonment, rape and murder of Measham teenager Kayleigh Haywood.

Kayleigh was groomed online by Luke Harlow, before she was killed by his next door neighbour, Stephen Beadman, in the early hours of Sunday 15 November 2015.
At Nottingham Crown Court on the 1st July, Beadman, was given a life sentence, to serve a minimum of 35 years, after pleading guilty to murder and rape and being found guilty of false imprisonment.

Harlow, of George Avenue, Ibstock, was sentenced to a total of 12 years after being found guilty of false imprisonment and having pleaded guilty to meeting Kayleigh following sexual grooming, two counts of sexual activity with her, and two counts of attempting to meet two other girls following sexual grooming.

My thoughts as always, are with Kayleigh’s family and friends and I know this case has had a powerful impact across North West Leicestershire. Leicestershire Police have made a film about Kayleigh’s story which was shown extensively in Measham, Ibstock, and Coalville in early July.

In September, when the schools return all children aged 11 years and older in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland will be given the opportunity to see the film.
It is a powerful film and we are grateful to Kayleigh’s family for allowing us to tell her story and I am sure it will make a difference.

The film has attracted a lot of interest and all police forces have been given the opportunity to use it in their work with young people. I understand that once the programme for showing the film to schools has been completed then it will be released publicly.

Download Festival
In June we had the 2016 European Football Championships, and locally at the same time the Download Festival took place. I have to confess that I am not a massive fan of football, but I do know enough that England did not do very well, and the Welsh team did a lot better than expected.
For the police, the Download Festival was a massive success, despite the efforts of the weather to ruin it. This year only 42 crimes were reported to us, compared to 60 the previous year which we thought we would not be able to improve on after the excellent results from last year. Crime has now fallen, year-on-year, for three years and figures are at an all-time low.

2011 – 159
2012 – 195
2013 – 301
2014 – 92
2015 – 60
2016 – 42

I would like to pay tribute to the work of all of our neighbourhood officers to ensure that not only do we deal with 80,000 people visiting our area for the five days of the festival, but also carry on with normal day to day policing.

Rural Watch

In February this year Leicestershire Police set up Rural Watch, to create a network of villagers, farmers, churches and businesses that can work together to address local policing issues, share information and combat crime affecting parts of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Rural Watch brings together several existing schemes, including Horse Watch, Church Watch and Farm Watch, which have been operating across Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, to create a bigger network and to help ensure everyone has access to advice and information.

Rural Watch is open to anyone who lives, works or visits rural locations in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. For more information about the scheme, and to find crime prevention advice on a range of topics, visit RURAL WATCH
If you are interested in joining the scheme please email your details to rural.watch@leicestershire.pnn.police.uk

You can also follow Rural Watch on twitter @Leicsruralwatch or on Facebook/leicsruralwatch

VolunteersIn North West Leicestershire we are lucky to have a great set of volunteers who give up so much of their time to support policing and the local community. At Download each year we rely on our volunteers to help provide crime prevention advice, and we have an active group of Special Constables and Police Cadets.

In June Special Sergeant Lee Bennett won the Outstanding Leader award at the Leicestershire Police Volunteers in Policing award ceremony. I must congratulate Lee on his well deserved award. More recently our specials have not only been assisting on day to day work but also when we have executed search warrants.

Our Police Cadets are a great bunch of young people who are learning about policing as well as undertaking initiatives in the community. On the 1st July Leicestershire Police held a memorial service to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first day of the battle of the Somme. Emily Monk, who is a cadet from North West Leicestershire, along with several cadets from around Leicestershire attended the service. Emily volunteered to give one of the readings at a ceremony that proved to be very moving.

If you would like to know more about volunteering, please visit this link VOLUNTEERING

As I write we are in full flow with our preparations for Download which starts on Wednesday the 11th June through to Sunday 15th June. I have to confess that I am not the biggest fan of heavy metal, however I am proud to say that I know at least one of the bands, which is Aerosmith, and they are on the main stage for Sunday evening.

For many residents across North West Leicestershire, major events at Donington Park are a regular aspect of life, however our policing plan is as much about delivering a safe event for participants and fans, as it is for local people being able to carry out their day to day lives without too much disruption. In any case if you are planning to travel in and around Donington Park and East Midlands Airport during the week of Download, please plan your journey and allow extra time to get to your destination.

If you use Twitter follow @downloadcops for the latest information relating to Download and Donington Park.

Quality of Service

As a public facing organisation we deal with a wide variety of situations and work hard to keep local communities safe. Very often that is recognised when a member of the public writes in to thank our officers, and I am always delighted to receive such a letter. I also believe it is important that internally, we recognise our staff who go the ‘extra mile’ and deliver consistently exceptional service.

PC 2925 James Broomfield is the Beacon Officer for the Bardon Hill Safer Neighbourhood Team.

PC Broomfield at Pitbanks, Ellistown

During the course of the last year James has dealt with a high profile and long running case of anti-social behaviour which resulted in the offender being sent to prison. The case attracted national attention and has been featured on Channel 5. More recently James has been working on the problem of off-road motor cycles in the Pitbanks area of Ellistown which I mentioned last month.

However I was delighted that James has won the Leicestershire Police ‘Your Values at Work’ award for April 2014. This is an internal award and recipients are nominated by their colleagues. James was nominated by 15 of his colleagues and the nominations reflect the values James not only demonstrates in his day to day dealings with the public, but are regularly reflected in his support to his fellow officers at North West Leicestershire.

Easter Impact Sports Sessions

Over the course of the recent Easter holidays and in partnership with the Impact team from Leicestershire County Council, our local police teams were involved in the delivery of sport sessions for young people across the area. The aim of the session was two-fold. In the first instance the provision of a variety of sports, and secondly diversionary activity designed to show the young people in attendance the causes and effects of anti-social behaviour. Over 50 young people attended ranging in age from 8 to 20 years old. The feedback we have received has been excellent with an overwhelming plea from the young people for more sessions, which we are hoping to do over the summer months.

World Cup

At the time of writing the World Cup is only a few weeks away. In one of our webchats recently we had a bit of fun with an online poll which asked about England’s chances. 75% of those who answered thought England would get out of the group but would not progress much further than that!

However, we are aware that many people will be visiting their pub to watch the England games, and we have already been working with many of the licensees across the area to support them, particularly for the first game which will be late at night, and also coincides with Download. We have been in close liaison with the Pubwatch schemes in both Ashby and Coalville, and we have drawn up a patrol plan which is linked to the premises that will be opening late or showing matches.

How far do you think England will get?

STOP PRESS

News hot off the press.

As this update was about to be published we have executed a warrant In Ibstock, and seized a quantity of what we believe to be cannabis. A local man has been interviewed in connection with drugs offences.

Our enquiries are still ongoing at the moment and I will provide an update next month.

Welcome to the latest edition of my monthly update with a round-up of what has been happening in and around North West Leicestershire over the past month or so.
I am particularly delighted to bring you news of two cases that were recently heard at Leicester Crown Court and relate to offences that have had a significant impact on the local community.

Drug dealer sent to prison
On the 7th February 2014 Brendan John Evans (24) of Swadlincote, Derbyshire was sentenced at Leicester Crown court. He was sentenced in relation to Possession of MCAT with intent to supply (a class B controlled drug) in Measham on the 23rd July 2013 and a breach of a community rehabilitation order by committing this offence.
In sentencing, Judge Simon Hammond said;
“Although classified as a class B drug MCAT is a terrible drug, and supplying it to others in our communities is a very serious matter.”
Evans was sentenced to 16 months in custody, with a minimum of 8 months to be served and the remainder of the sentence to be suspended for two years. Evans was also issued with a five year Crime Related Anti-Social Behaviour Order (CRASBO) preventing him from being in Measham in the company of more than one person and banning him from being under the influence of drink or drugs in the village.
This is an excellent result for the Forest safer neighbourhood team, in particular Beacon Officer, PC Steve Harrison, and team members PCs Sean Lockley and Colin Gardner.

Heating Oil thieves sent to prison
During the latter part of 2012 and early 2013 we suffered a large number of thefts of heating oil. On the 19th February four men were sentenced at Leicester Crown Court for more than 20 offences across North West Leicestershire and Derbyshire.
Winston John Cook (44) of St Matthews Avenue, Worthington, Leicestershire, Gary James Clifford (30) of Siskin Close, Measham, Gareth Christian Evans (36) of Checkland Road, Thurmaston and Matthew John Smith (33) of Greenacres Drive, South Normanton, Derbyshire pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to conspiracy to steal heating oil.
Cook was sentenced to 18 months, Smith and Clifford both received 13 months each and Evans was sentenced to 10 months.
The excellent result in this case has come about as a result of a lot of hard work by our colleagues in CID, as well as Police Community Support Officers on our Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
It would be timely to remind owners of heating oil tanks to take some simple steps which could help prevent becoming a victim of crime;
• Check the oil level on your tank on a regular basis.
• Fit an electronic oil gauge/tank alarm which will alert you if the oil level drops.
• Use fencing or shrubs to hide your tank from view.
• Consider installing CCTV cameras.
• Fit a strong lock to the tank.
• If your tank is in an outbuilding keep the building locked.
• Install dusk to dawn security lighting.
• Turn off switches that control the supply of oil when not in use.
• Make a note of the registration number of suspicious vehicles especially tankers or large vehicles close to your property.
• Keep an eye on your neighbour’s tank as well.
• Join a Neighbourhood Watch scheme

Download
As many of you can appreciate, particularly if you live in an around Castle Donington, the Download festival is a significant event not only for the local community but also the police. Our planning for this year’s event started as soon as last year’s event finished and at North West Leicestershire we are heavily involved in planning for the festival.
We meet regularly with Live Nation who are the event promoters, as well as North West Leicestershire District Council, and we are working hard to deliver a safe event that causes the least amount of adverse impact on the local community.
This year will also mark the last event for one of our police commanders, Chief Superintendent Geoff Feavyou,r who some of you may know from his time as Commander of the North Area. He retires in early 2015, and as an avid rock fan, and I know he is looking forward to his last Download festival.

Crime Prevention
Whilst we have had some success as I have outlined above, we can never be complacent and as such we have available a number of products to help prevent you becoming a victim of crime.
• Catalytic Convertor marking kits
o PCSO Tony Gallagher and police volunteer Bob Bancroft have visited all Coalville Garages dealing in vans to offer CAT security marking kits at significantly reduced cost. The kits include a CAT marking kit & a window sticker to target harden & deter criminals.
• Bike Locks
o We have a supply of D-locks which are available from Coalville police station for £6.00
• Light timers
o We have a limited supply of light timers which are available for free from Coalville police station.